FIJ
In a viral video on X, a man is seen lamenting about the fuel pump price and fuel scarcity despite his involvement in electoral violence in the 2023 presidential election.
According to the man who FIJ is yet to identify, he forced people to vote for President Bola Tinubu in 2023.
“We are suffering in this country. We can’t get fuel. They are now beating us in fuel stations. We voted for Jagaban (Tinubu). I was one of those who beat people in Idi-Oro. We were knocking on doors and hitting people’s heads to vote for you. Now that you have won, you have spoilt our lives,” the man stressed.
“To feed ourselves is tough for us. Those of us working are now as though we are lazy in our fatherland. Jagaban, do something.
“We are the ones beating our fathers’ mates with canes for your sake. Awa l’okan (“It is our turn” a phrase attributed to Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election campaign).
“I know that they will come and beat me at home with what I have said, but I am a street urchin too. At the end of the day, we have regretted to have followed awa l’okan.”
While this man’s confessions and personality may be contested, there have been notable cases of people who threatened voters in 2023. One such person was Musiliu Akinsanya, better known as MC Oluomo, an erstwhile National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) chairman in Lagos.
In 2023, MC Oluomo received backlash on X for threatening Igbo voters in Lagos; an accusation he would later come out to deny. Channels TV quizzed Force PRO Muyiwa Adejobi about MC Oluomo and he said, “Let’s just take it as a joke”.
Before then, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had employed the NURTW for election logistics assistance. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party (LP) 2023 governorship candidate in Lagos, would later get a court injunction to bar the INEC-NURTW partnership.
Despite that, violence still marred the 2023 presidential election. Bina Efidi, a resident of Ikate Surulere, suffered a face injury due to the electoral violence that ensued in her locale.
In this interview with FIJ, she narrated that political thugs hijacked the election process while there was no presence of security personnel where she voted.
Leadership News also released a video of ex-majority leader Alhassan Doguwa threatening to deal with anyone who dares vote against the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“On election day, I swear, it’s either you vote for APC or you will be dealt with,” Doguwa threatened.
In 2023, FIJ also reported on how electoral supremacy in Lagos, Nigeria’s fastest-growing city, was determined by the party that exploited electoral violence the most.
A 2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Nigeria by the United States Department of State highlighted various irregularities and challenges in the last presidential election.
“During the March 18 state election in Lagos, All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters reportedly intimidated and suppressed voters in Igbo-dominated areas, which Labour Party presidential candidate and ethnically Igbo Peter Obi won in the February 25 national election. Viral videos on social media showed APC supporters in Ojo threatening to attack ethnic Igbo voters presumed to be pro-Obi,” the report stated.
“In Eti-Osa, APC supporters also attacked journalists and, in some cases, shut down voting and prevented non-Yoruba voters from accessing polls.”
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN FIJ
